Dancing For A Dream Role

Aspiring Actors Try To Make The Cut For 'Cats'

April 4, 1990|By Agnes Torres Al-shibibi of The Sentinel Staff

The audition was for Cats. The excruciating, ego-bruising process was right out of A Chorus Line.

About 60 dancers strutted their stuff Monday at the James Dance Center on the strip of downtown Kissimmee called Broadway, hoping for a shot at the real thing. Presiding over the audition, one of the most prestigious to ever make a stop in Central Florida, was the New York-based team responsible for the Broadway and touring companies of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical.

Production supervisor Jeff Lee, casting director Andy Zerman, production dance supervisor Richard Stafford and musical director David Caddick were looking for talent to fill openings in both companies.

''This is the crucial one,'' said April Nixon, 19, a Cincinnati native who has danced at Walt Disney World for almost a year. ''I've been waiting for this one all my life.''

Ditto the other dancers, many of them also Disney entertainers. Decked out in all manner of tights, leotards and leg warmers, they stretched or chatted nervously in a steamy second-floor studio used as a waiting area Monday morning.

''I'm here for the experience, to see what will happen,'' said Joey Dowdy, 23, a Disney dancer originally from England.

Nixon and Dowdy were among the lucky third who passed the morning dance audition. In the afternoon, they got the chance to sing and earned the privilege of leaving behind their picture and resume to be filed in the New York casting office. Still, there were no promises made.

During the morning audition, the initial 60 dancers were whittled down to about 40 after they stood, firing-squad style, in groups of 10 before the talent scouts. Chests heaving, they introduced themselves with bright eyes and big smiles, then tried to execute double pirouettes.

The next big cut, down to 20, came after they learned and rehearsed a routine from Cats, with dance supervisor Stafford urging them to claw their hands and arch their backs, catlike.

''It's real intense. I think of it as being a class,'' a lesson from some of the top names in show business, said Danielle Gasparro, 19. Her family lives in Orlando and she skipped her regular classes at Florida State University to make the audition Monday.

Production supervisor Lee and his team decided to bring their audition to Central Florida after they hired some Orlando-area residents at auditions in Miami last year. The show's directors have realized, he said, that talent is not to be found only in New York. After more auditions today in Miami - and others in Chicago, Detroit and Pittsburgh - more than 400 dancers will have auditioned to be replacements for a total of 70 spots in the companies.

The long life of successful musicals such as Cats, which opened on Broadway in 1982, creates a need for fresh talent at regular intervals. It can't hurt to plant the seeds of interest in as many performers as possible - even if they won't be eligible in the immediate future.

Shawnda James, the daughter of dance studio owner Judy James, was allowed to audition Monday even though she is two years younger than the requested minimum of 17. But Shawnda made it through to the last 20, even being asked to show off her acrobatic skills.

Musical director Caddick, whom press representative Jim Kerber described as Lloyd Webber's ''right hand man,'' advised her to get singing lessons to improve her confidence in her voice. And, as he had with many of the others, he encouraged her to ''come back and see us on the next round.''